GIRLS GOLF PREVIEW: Panthers Destree to lead on the links

Entering the 2018 season, the Wilmot Union High School girls golf team will lean on one of last season’s best in the county, senior Keegan Destree.

Destree, a first team all-county in 2017, shot a 72 in the team’s first invitational of the season on Aug. 9 at Hawks View Golf Club to place seventh, while the Panthers finished fifth with a score of 325.

“Keegan (Destree) should be one of the better golfers in the county this season, but only time will tell,” head coach Greg Olson said. “She has worked on her game over the summer and continues to improve.”

Including Destree, the Panthers have five returning players with senior Hannah Brendel, and sophomores Maddy Toro, Lauren Maki, and Josephine Beinecke coming back. The team brings in three freshmen golfers in Emma Schlangenhaft, Sarah Ball, and Josephine Schneider.

“Our strengths for the season should be the play of Keegan Destree and Hannah Brendel, they are the two seniors on the team and have been on the team for three years,” Olson said. “Over the summer, both these girls have put in extra time working on their golf games.”

On Aug. 13, the Panthers participated in a scramble format invite at Ives Grove, where they finished fourth with a score of 185, while Destree and Brendel placed fourth among individual pairs shooting an 86.

“I was pleasantly surprised with the results of the team in the first two invites,” Olson said. “Maddy Toro and Emma Schlagenhaft, who had never played in a varsity meet before, showed that they can compete at the varsity level, and our team finished in the middle of the pack for both events.”

Wilmot took part in an invitational at Brighton Dale that included several area schools in the Southeast Conference from Kenosha, Racine and Oak Creek on Wednesday. Next Thursday, the Panthers will take on Burlington at Browns Lake Golf Course at 3:30 p.m.

“I would like to see the girls continue to improve their games and scores,” Olson said. “I think that Thursday could test the girl’s skills a bit playing on Brighton Dale because it is a course is long and tends to add a couple of strokes per nine to the scores.”